The Voice123 team blog for our community of talents and voice seekers.

Friday, June 19, 2009

'Top 5 Feedbacks: From Voice Seekers'

Voice123 receives thousands of feedback emails, phone calls, and Live Chats a month, all from users of online casting. There are many, who post jobs to find voice over talents, many who audition, and many who do both. This week, we would like to share the top 5 feedbacks we read from voice seekers to fill in communication gaps in the Voice123 voice over community.

We hope you will find this helpful!

1. 'The voice talent did not respond to my email, or direct invitation.'

Regretfully, if there is more than one obvious choice, a simple thing like not responding to a personal invitation can cost someone a job; sometimes you or another voice talent. Voice123 is aware of this, and has policies in place to assist both voice talents and voice seekers to avoid these problems.

2. 'The voice talent agreed on a price, but could not perform the payment method required.'

One of the reasons Voice123 has a profile parameter for Payment Methods is because there are certain types of methods voice seekers or voice talents will simply not use. The best way to avoid any negative situation is to make sure you know you can perform the required payment method before auditioning.

3. 'The person did not follow instructions.'

Actually, this feedback is related to events that have happened AFTER someone was hired. Online voice over casting is new to everyone! One's perception of how much instruction is needed ahead of time can vary from user to user. At Voice123, we work to build technology to fill communication gaps in the voice over community, but it still may happen. The important thing to do is always keep track of what is exactly being asked for. An example would be, if the seeker asks for audio not to be compressed, or the MP3 file to be named a certain way.

4. 'The audition was great! So, what happened to the voice talent?'

The best thing to do, if you are going to audition, is make sure that you have contact info in your profile and remarks section that reaches you quickly. In addition, if you audition, always make sure you are indeed willing to do the job.

5. 'I wish there was some flexibility and understanding. We are all in the same boat.'

Working online as a voice talent, in many ways, requires that the talent can offer his/her own brand of customer service for voice seekers. There are indeed times when someone asks for a great amount of work, for very little. Before the decision to say 'No, I cannot help you.' is made, fully analyze the bigger picture! Will this person be a long-term client? Can I afford what is being asked of me? Above all... Will the effort eventually lead to a higher return of investment.

Perhaps the toughest part of being an online voice over talent is mastering the art of being a self-agent, business entrepreneur, marketer, and equally skilled at copy reading, while having sound recording skills.

The first step to all success...

Maintain a positive attitude, and work hard. Success will eventually find you!